Recent Activity

• November 27, 2011 Deryn has been to Anza Borrego Desert View Tower
  

  California, US

  Anza Borrego Desert View Tower

  The Desert View Tower looks out onto the curious carvings of an unemployed engineer

  In the mid 1920s, Bert Vaughn, a hotel owner in nearby Jacumba, built a four story tall tower in the empty Anza Borrego desert to "commemorate the pioneers and road and railroad builders who... »

  Follies and Grottoes, Outsider Architecture | Edited by re_nakaba and Dylan

• November 27, 2011 Deryn has been to Methuselah Tree
  

  California, US

  Methuselah Tree

  The oldest living tree in the world, Methuselah was germinated before the Egyptian Pyramids were built

  An ancient 4,800-year-old Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, the Methuselah Tree grows high in the White Mountains of eastern California. Named, obviously, after the Biblical figure that lived for... »

  Natural Wonders, Geological Oddities, Extraordinary Flora | Edited by Nicholas Jackson, Dylan and others

• November 22, 2011 Deryn liked Lava Beds National Monument
  

  Lava Beds National Monument

  Trails through lava-carved tube-caves display sparkling bacteria and a rich history

  In North America, there is perhaps no better place to explore a volcanically sculpted landscape than Lava Beds National Monument in northern California. In addition to housing the largest... »

  Geological Oddities, Curious Caves | Edited by Trevor, Annetta and others

• November 20, 2011 Deryn updated the Mono Lake
  

  Mono Lake

  Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp

  Mono Lake is believed to have formed 760,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest lakes in North America. Researchers estimate that at the time of the last ice age, the lake was 900 feet deep... »

  Natural Wonders, Watery Wonders, Martian Landscapes, Geological Oddities, Fascinating Fauna, Wonders of Salt | Edited by anhie and Deryn

• November 20, 2011 Deryn updated the Scotty's Castle
  

  Scotty's Castle

  Abandomed Jazz Age Dream Home and Con Man's Hide-Out in Death Valley Desert

  Neither a castle nor Scotty’s, Death Valley Ranch, more commonly known as "Scotty’s Castle" was built by Albert Johnson, an insurance broker from Chicago. Johnson was lured to Death Valley by... »

  Ghost Towns, Eccentric Homes | Edited by Tre, BrianDunning and others

• November 20, 2011 Deryn liked Devil's Postpile National Monument
  

  California, US

  Devil's Postpile National Monument

  Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice

  The battling forces of fire and ice created the Devils Postpile: over 400 unusually symmetrical columns of basalt towering six hundred feet high, on the eastern side of the sierras, just outside... »

  Martian Landscapes, Geological Oddities | Edited by Tre

• November 20, 2011 Deryn has been to Forestiere Underground Gardens
  

  Forestiere Underground Gardens

  An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.

  The Underground Gardens are the life-long devotion and hobby of Baldassare Forestiere, a Sicilian immigrant and self-taught artist and builder who came to America in 1901 to escape the iron rule... »

  Extraordinary Flora, Curious Caves, Strange Science, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Architectural Oddities, Eccentric Homes, Horticultural Marvels, Subterranean Sites | Edited by A Facebook user

• November 20, 2011 Deryn commented on Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve

  can't fix that second link for some reason

• November 20, 2011 Deryn added Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve
  

  Antsalova, Madagascar

  Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve

  Fabulous formations, weird and wonderful wildlife

  The word tsingy is indigenous to the Malagasy language as a description of the badlands of Madagascar. The word can be translated into English as "where one cannot walk barefoot." The tsingys... »

  Natural Wonders, Geological Oddities, Fascinating Fauna | Edited by Deryn, atimian and others

• November 20, 2011 Deryn liked Hall of Mosses
  

  Hall of Mosses

  Stroll through a wonderland of stupendous moss covered trees

  The Hall of Mosses is the name of a distinct hiking trail in Olympic National Park, located in the Hoh Rainforest. Plucked straight from a story book, the trail is filled with old trees -- a... »

  Natural Wonders, Martian Landscapes, Extraordinary Flora | Edited by Lily Landes, patrickwfloyd and 2 others